Sunday, September 26, 2010

Threads e-letter had this lovely vintage dress last week. I love the lace insert - reminds me of some handmade lace my grandmother left me. They say it is 40's but the lace insert, the sleeves and the color remind me of what Nana is wearing in 30's photos. Plus they didn't wear long dresses at all during the war due to the fabric shortage. Post war 40's fashion was very different- much more bold colors and tailoring.Totally love the cording in the back.

Friday, September 17, 2010

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Now that cooler weather is really here, I am in the mood for making apple pies. Over the weekend I bought some sweet/tart mackintosh Amish apples and threw together this tart Monday after dinner. I made Nana's one crust pie crust, rolled it out freeform and put it on a cookie sheet. Mixed the apples with brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg and dumped them into the pie crust, dotted it with butter, folded in the sides. Baked for 15 min at 450 and 30 min at 350. Mmmmmm. Made it again tonight :)

Saturday, September 11, 2010

I don't know how I got into this but tonight I found myself infatuated with a collection of antique buttons from a lady who was selling her aunt's estate on Ebay. Like this lovely large one with a mother of pearl inset. And this graceful art nouveau button..

And this whimsical set of bakelite buttons...

And these sparkly ones

I bid on some and won one because I managed to jump into the bidding 34 seconds before it was over, but I don't think my luck will hold. After all how much are you willing to pay for a button no matter how lovely it is. And most of these are phased all night and I can't see myself staying up until 3AM to bid on an especially appealing button. Apparently their are a lot of avid button collectors because the bidding is torrid.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Tonight I am pureeing my plum tomatoes. I haven't done this for a while and it took about half an hour for me to figure out how to fit the cylindar with the spring and the fins that scrape the seeds and skins off. Lovely cool weather for canning. The past two days have been in the mid to upper 70's - feels positively frigid after four days of upper 90's early last week. And I couldn't resist trying a recipie for roasted pumpkin ravoli last night and found the perfect little pumpkin in the Amish farmer's market Saturday.

Roasted the pumpkin with garlic, sage and thyme.

...... and about an hour later, here is the finished product. Much bigger effort than I thought it would be. Every surface in the kitchen was covered with pots, pans and bowls. It didn't help that I put the food processor together wrong and a lot of cream leaked out when I was pureeing it.

And HB is not a big fan of meals like this so I didn't even get much of a fanfare. It was really scrumptious and I kept thinking that ABJ and SJ would really have appreciated it - and been a big help in making all those little raviolis.

ABJ has been bugging me to take a picture of my new J Crew tweed jacket, so here it is, paired with a denim Gant shirt I have have had for about 20 years. The sleeves are actually long enough for me and the shoulders are just right. Note the bottom finishing - sort of like a vest - gives it a distinctive look. And here are my shoes.

This shot gives an idea of the texture, which is somewhere in between suede and slightly worn leather. :)

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

So here is my current obsession...... Yes I realize that taken out of context it looks a little obscene, but I can't help that. The shape is perfect and the lovely little brass hinges and screws that allow it to fold up are so appealing :)

It all started with an article in Threads that referred to the wonders of the June Tailor pressing board in achieving that sharp tailored look through effective pressing of seams during garment construction. They mentioned that it had been discontinued and could now only be bought used, so naturally I turned to EBay to see if they had one listed. One, without the pad was selling for $45 which I thought was a bit rich, but I found one that was listed for $10- with a lovely pad in pristine condition. Put a bid of 10.26 on it and added it to my watch list on Sunday. Yesterday (this is three days later) I received a notice that someone had bid it up to 11.56, so I decided to keep watching until the last minute. Tonight I took a casual look and nearly fell off my chair when I saw it had 17 bids and was up to $66!!!!!!! .... with 2 more days to go. Yikes!

Now I am obsessed. I have been looking everywhere on the internet for a June Tailor Pressing Board and I can't find zip. Found a crude imitation on a quilting supply site for $34, but it doesn't have the lovely little brass hinges and smooth finish of the real thing. It certainly isn't exactly practical - I have managed to live without one for my whole 55 year sewing career - but I can't get it out of my head.

This is probably where ABJ gets her tendency towards ADD - first a herringbone tweed jacket and now a June Tailor Pressing board :)